Recommendation: Set a zero target for 2050, and 2030 in city areas and hig-volume highways

Sarah Frazer, 23, broke down on the Hume Highway and pulled into an emergency lane that her father described as a death trap.

On the curb side, brambles blocked Sarah's escape. On the other side, the car jutted out into a 110km/h lane because the safe emergency lane was too narrow to meet Australian standards.

Sarah Frazer was killed in a crash on the Hume Highway.

When a truck crashed into Sarah and the tow truck driver who had come to her aid, both were killed, though the death was highly preventable with the right width emergency lane.

Nothing less than zero road deaths and serious injuries should be acceptable on Australian roads, an inquiry into the Australian National Road Safety Strategy 2011-2020 has found.

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The existing plan had failed and road safety has stalled, the inquiry's final report says.

In the report, to be released on Wednesday by Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, it is recommended that the government adopts a policy of "vision zero" with a target of no road deaths and serious injuries by 2050 across Australia.

In the interim, it calls for a target of zero deaths and serious injuries by 2030 for every capital city's CBD and major highways - like the one where Sarah died. Country roads account for about twice as many deaths as city roads.

Surgeon John Crozier, the co-chair of the inquiry, called on the government to "halt the carnage".

"We must act on a scale that matters with a disaster response that reflects the true nature of this silent epidemic," said Dr Crozier, the chair of the Trauma Committee at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

"As a nation we have become complacent, and we don't appreciate the huge silent public health epidemic from the burden of road crashes."

Sarah Frazer was killed after being hit by a truck after her car broke down on the Hume Highway.

Last year, 1226 people were killed in road crashes in Australia and 36,000 people are injured every year.

This is partly why a surgeon was asked to highlight the burden of broken bodies. That is the price we have got used to paying.

Surgeon John Crozier

This was the equivalent of an entire public health condition in its own right that had gone completely unrecognised, Dr Crozier said.

"This is partly why a surgeon was asked to highlight the burden of broken bodies. That is the price we have got used to paying for travelling on our roads," he told Fairfax Media before the report was released.

Without changes in attitudes, spending and priorities, 12,000 more people like Sarah will be killed and 360,000 will be injured at a cost of more than $300 billion over the next decade alone.

Co-chaired by road safety expert Associate Professor Jeremy Woolley from the University of Adelaide, the report is damning. It finds road trauma targets are not being met.

Nothing less than zero road deaths and serious injuries should be acceptable on Australian roads, the report has found.Credit:Matt Bedford

"We accept that we are making roads, vehicles and users 'safer' but we frequently miss the opportunity to make them safe outright," the report says.

"We need to accept the Swedish view that there is an ethical imperative not to accept death andinjury as a normal consequence of road use. To do anything less is to budget for death."

The report has called for 10 per cent of the cost of road trauma, about $3 billion, to be spent annually making roads safer.

It also recommends that a minister with special responsibility for roads be appointed to cabinet and a range of measures considered to improve enforcement.

We need to accept the Swedish view that there is an ethical imperative not to accept death and injury as a normal consequence of road use.

Australian National Road Safety Strategy 2011-2020 report

To eliminate preventable deaths, it recommended that the speed limit of 50km/h on many local street, which are often used by pedestrians and cyclists, should be reduced to 30km/h an hour.

The speed limit should more accurately reflect conditions. Currently a regional back road withno shoulders, narrow profile and no line markings, and a high volume, multi-lane highway with protective barriers shared the same 100km/h limit.

Mr McCormack, who is also the minister for infrastructure, transport and regional development, said the report noted a modest improvement in annual death numbers in recent years.

"One road death or accident is one too many, which is why the Liberal and Nationals’ government supports any initiative to improve safety standards and reduce accidents and trauma," he said, calling for a bipartisan approach. The Federal Government would respond to the recommendations after it had considered them in detail.

We accept that we are making roads, vehicles and users 'safer' but we frequently miss the opportunity to make them safe outright.'

Australian National Road Safety Strategy 2011-2020 report

Sarah's father, Peter, said nobody should lose a loved one in such "preventable road crashes" like the one that claimed his daughter.

He told the inquiry that Sarah's last message - from her car where she was trapped - would "haunt me for the rest of my life". "Cars and trucks are speeding past just centimetres away from my car … No one is changing lanes away from me … I am terrified that they will hit me. I rang the NRMA. Dad, please call me!'"

But Mr Fraser was at work, his mobile was off and he didn't hear the voicemail until much later.

"My beautiful daughter was the kindest, funniest, most intelligent person I had ever met. She had everything to live for," he said.

"But at 12.32pm, Sarah and the tow truck driver who had come to assist, were horrifically killed when a passing truck crashed into them. She was now left in pieces on Australia’s most important road."

Peter Frazer was at work, his mobile was off and he didn't hear the voicemail when his daughter called in distress.Credit:fds